Author 




Class 
Book 



i, 



Title 



Imprint 



409181 GPO 



/"ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



^FfilglhiGmaisi ILtosrniFy &o>@ii@fty s 



OP THE 



Western University of Pennsylvania, 



ON THE 25th FEBRUARY, 1839. 



THE EIGHTEENTH ANNIVERSARY. 



BY SAMUEL W. BLACK, ESQ. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OP THE SOCIETY. 



Hfttsfotrflft: 

PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVOCATE OFFICE. 



1839. 



J 

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4fc Ml 



Pittsburgh, Feb. 27, 1839. 

Sir, — In accordance with a resolution adopted by Tilghman So- 
ciety, we the undersigned appointed a eotumittee for that purpose, 
respectfully request, for publication, a eopy of your address deliver- 
ed before the Society, at the celebration of its Anniversary, oo the 
evening of the 25th inst. 

Allow us, Sir, to acknowledge the great pleasure we experienced 
on hearing an address, which, we believe, reflected, alike, honor on 
its author and the body which he represented. 

JAMES B. SAWYER, 
ROBERT A. BROWNE, 
DAVID CARNAHAN, 

Samdel W. Black, Esq. Committee. 



Pittsburgh, Februarys, 1839. 
Gentlemen —Your note of the 27th inst. on behalf of the "Tilgh- 
man Society," was received on the day of its date. Incompliance 
with the request therein contained, I enclose you a copy of the ad- 
dress delivered at the celebration of our late anniversary. You will 
perceive I have not clothed this with "the customary suit" of apolo> 
gies, for the simple reason, I do not believe they are eyer made ex- 
cept when they are not needed. Please convey, to my fellow mem- 
bers, my thanks for their flattering kindness, with my best wishes 
for their lasting prosperity. 

Very truly, 

SAM. W. BLACK. 
Messrs. James B. Sawyer, Robert A. Brown, D. Carnahan, Com. 

63<?9 6 2/ ' 



m 



ADDRESS. 



Fellow Members, 

A custom, justly honored in the observance, 
has this night drawn us together around the 
family altar of our society. To us her very ex- 
istence is matter of gratification and pride, and 
the day that gave her birth, is properly set 
apart as one of rejoicing. Although in the 
drama of that day, we, my fellow members, 
were not actors, yet, with it and with those who 
played their parts in it, tradition has made us 
cotemporaries; for in the language of a learned 
American orator, "we live in the past, by a 
knowledge of its history." — A remark, in this 
instance, most emphatically true — often have 
we heard the early history of this society — of- 
ten have we been told the story of her many 
struggles, until, connecting our thoughts and 
sympathies with them, we have almost imagin- 
ed ourselves partakers in them. We recall 
and commemorate with delight the birth-day 
of this society, and on the dawn of her exist- 
ence we look back with pleasure, for on that 
day the purport of her creation was first de- 
clared, and on that day she received her name, 
and took her stand as a literary association. 
And we now rejoice, for the laudable intention 



on that day set forth has not been perverted, 
and the high name with which she was then 
baptized has not been dishonored. The found- 
ers of this society were lovers of the human fa- 
mily, men actuated by a commendable desire 
of increasing their own store of knowledge, and 
of promoting, as far as in them lay, the diffu- 
sion of literature and healthy morals among 
their kind. These are remembrances that 
now rush upon us — are they not refreshing, and 
have we not a right to rejoice in them? 

We feel that this is a festival, and yet for the 
occasion we employ no unnatural stimulants, 
for it has within itself an excitement, peculiar 
and indescribable, of which our veins acknowl- 
edge a thrilling fever, invigorating and healthy 
even in its rage. What cause or combination 
of causes might produce it, we are, perhaps, 
unable to determine; but this much we do 
know, whole rivers of rich and sparkling wine 
would fail in the effort. There is intoxication 
in it, yet the brain reels not neither does it lose 
its balance — there is a feeling of elevation with- 
out a consequent depression — there is lightness 
of heart with a religion in it — there is merri- 
ment mingled with respect. But why need I 
attempt to portray that which cannot be por- 
trayed although it may be felt? It is precisely 
the kind of sensation an intellectual being should 
experience when he would thank God for the 
birth day of his country's independence, or as 
a rational creature rejoice with gratitude for 
favors given, by an effort to elevate the i***ol- 
Jectual stature to the parallel of those who 



dwell in the stars, rather than degrade the man 
to the base equality of brutes that perish. 

Gentlemen, you and I have nearly the same 
number of years on our heads, and we are just 
entering, or have already entered, on that crit- 
ical age, when, in the popular opinion of the 
day, alluring temptations from the path of duty 
win easy and numerous conquests. Whether 
humanity has in it more dust and less deity at 
one period of existence than another, is not for 
us now to enquire, and whether young men 
do not occasionally monopolize public solicitude 
to the exclusion and neglect of older sinners, 
is matter of speculation for more experienced 
heads. We are contented to believe that the 
hey-day of youth is the time of danger, at least 
it is the time we are taught, and correctly too, 
to guard most against vice, and to cultivate the 
fellowship of virtue. 

Some person once said that "knowledge was 
virtue," — it is a most beautiful idea and might 
be true if it comprehended enough to designate 
this ennobling and divine attribute. And if 
virtue were no more than the mere opposite of 
vice, knowledge alone might include it, for ig- 
norance ever accompanied by a perversion of 
our passions, is the very soul, essence and ex- 
istence of that we denominate vice. But "knowl- 
edge is power," and consequently the first step 
to virtue, seeing that ' it confers the ability to 
do the most good, and from this it is easy to 
reach the grand principle itself. To the ques- 
^n then, what is virtue? The heart and the 
judgment give a simultaneous and willing re- 






G 



sponse — it is the possession and propagation of 
true and wholesome knowledge, the reception 
and diffusion of that sweet and delightful light 
by which a dead man may live; for he is dead, 
who stalks the earth by creation "a little lower 
than the angels," by education, by habit and 
growth in ignorance a little lower than a 
worm. 

How beautiful then is knowledge! How love- 
ly in company with its twin sister truth, Plato, 
heathen as he was, formed a proper estimate 
of their necessary affinity when declaring that 
"truth was the body of God," he paused, and 
seeing something wanting to complete the per- 
fection, added with a still nearer approach to 
the sublimity of inspiration — "and light is his 
shadow." Virtue is a precious diadem, whose 
brightest jewels are charity, benevolence and 
mercy; — and the diffusion of knowledge com- 
prehends them all. Who is more charitablethan 
he who plucks tattered rags from a freezing 
mind, and wraps it in robes of warmth and beau- 
ty? Who more benevolent than he who does 
"the good Samaritan" with a famished and 
sickly intellect? And who more merciful than 
he who lifts the soul from a hell of ignorance, 
and sets it high on the throne of its own empire? 

To this peerless and priceless crown the am- 
bition of every man should look, and look with 
a desire to wear it for it's own intrinsic value 
as well as its bright and glorious objects. To 
the attainment of this, probably no obstacle, pre- 
sents so strong and broad a barrier as avarice 
— that "root of all evil, the love of money." *feo 



i 



long as feeding and clothing the immortal intel- 
lect are v\ eighed and rated by dirty dollars, so 
long will virtue droop and vice rear its ugly head. 
In national and individual instances the result is 
ever the same — where the contents of a flow- 
ing treasury are liberally bestowed on the pro- 
motion of general knowledge, prosperity will 
reign throughout the land. On that great field, 
the human mind, and on it alone, "the barren 
heaps of yellow dirt" will render a rich and 
luxuriant harvest. Individually and collective- 
ly, from the leprosy of avarice may this socie- 
ty be delivered. 

The present, my fellow members, is hardly 
a proper occasion to attempt an enumeration 
of the many and various descriptions of mines 
we would find it necessary to explore in search- 
ing after this jewel knowledge. No such at- 
tempt will now be made. However there is a 
particular kind of study to which scarcely any 
one attaches the vast importance it most un- 
doubtedly merits — a book in which the most 
unlettered may read, and from which the pro- 
prietor of classic lore may learn. It's lines are 
drawn across the broad infinite of ether, and 
over the entire earth and boundless sea are 
spread it's fertile pages; its leaves are hung on 
every tree. This, gentlemen, is the great vol- 
ume of Nature; — is it possible to imagine any 
thing in which the ardor of youth, the reflection 
of full grown manhood, or the decline of faint 
old age could feel a livelier or more thrilling 
interest. Take the entire creation of God, the 
animate and inanimate essences of the world, 



8 

and a theme of study is found calculated for 
every temperament. Begin with the starry 
heavens, their contemplation will shed a calm 
and melancholy sweetness on the soul — turn in 
search of terror and excitement and the dark 
ocean presents itself, ic the glorious mirror 
where the Almighty's form glasses itself in 
tempests." Follow observation among the creep- 
ing flowers, the green tops of the rolling forest, 
"the babbling rivulets that rejoice with contin- 
uous laughter in their own being" the ever- 
lasting hills and the impregnable rocks — the 
broad breast bones of the mountains, and the 
heart fills with emotions 

"We can ne'er express yet cannot all conceal." 

And in the contemplation of such a scene, 
there is more than the mere excitement, and 
delightful sensation of the hour; the consequent 
reflection is salutary and useful, for the mind 
will enquire, came these of themselves and by 
their own power? Are they the spontaneous 
creatures of chaos? Or does the perfection of 
their vast machinery show the master hand of 
Him "who bringeth order out of confusion?" 

Turn we to the animate portion, it too, is full 
of interest, and the study of even its lower order 
commends itself to our serious attention. My 
fellow members, we may profit by imitating the 
brute creation; not indeed by degrading our- 
selves to their base level, but by learning from 
them to live according to the law of our nature; 
for they, creatures of appetite, unpossessed of 
soul and intellect, execute to the letter the only 



9 



Jaw by which they are bound. Do not they in 
their place and condition, perform their duty 
and execute the will of him who made them? 
They most certainly do — and in so far, are not 
unworthy examples for man "the lord of them 
all." By monsters of the deep and creatures 
of the earth, from "the great Leviathan" that 
sports upon the angry sea, to the grasshopper 
that sings itself to sleep beneath the curtain of 
a drooping leaf, the pages of nature are filled 
with eloquent and useful teachings. 

By this study of nature we mean the natural 
observation of God's works as they are spread 
before the eye, upon the earth, the sea and in 
the heavens, not as they are seen in the writ- 
ings and descriptions of any man. And in such 
an observation, when the "mind's er,e n accom- 
panies the natural, the feelings and reflections 
we have already mentioned will arise, although 
the observer may not be familiar with the sci- 
ence of the different objects. For nature, not- 
withstanding the foundation of all science, has 
not confined her wholesome influence to him ex- 
clusively who looks with scientific eye. On 
him who gazes with a proper spirit, the bright 
heavens will reflect beauty and good, albeit 
he has never heard of "Arctnrus and his 
sons;" nay, more, he can read there who does 
not even know that the living stars are more 
than lighted lamps hung up to fret the dark- 
ness. 

We profess to hold the cultivation of our 
minds in high estimation, yet we do not believe 
that this constitutes the entirety of educa- 

2 




10 



tionj our feelings and passions as much de* 
mand our high attention. And in adverting to 
this subject we may be permitted to differ with 
the queer old woman's doctrine that "the hu- 
man passions are to be suppressed and broken."' 
A more erroneous and unnatural opinion never 
took possession of the human mind. By him 
who gave the soul its immortality every passion 
in the human breast was given. Think you, 
my fellow members, he made them that we 
might suppress them? Let any one, frighten* 
ed at the strength of his own passions, make 
the attempt to smother them — if he succeeds, 
it must be by smothering the inborn spirit on 
which they live; for as well might he attempt 
the darning of Niagara's rapids while the bo- 
som of Erie is swoln and heaving, as calculate 
on stopping the rushing current within, while 
the source of every passion is freighted and 
throbbing. And in such an effort the spirit 
must be broken else the temporary stoppage 
adding nev\ strength to their wild violence 
will make them still more untameable and 
dangerous. Our passions are not to be supress- 
ed, nor are they to suppress us, but they are to 
be educated and trained up and directed, that 
they may subserve the high purpose for which 
they were given. Let us then judge our pas- 
sions by what they ui I be if educated and pro- 
perly directed, rather than condemn them for 
what they might be, if prostituted and pervert- 
ed. We should educate the powers of the 
heart as well as the mind, ever looking to some 
good eminence. Are we to shun ambition be? 



i : 






11 



cause the angels perverted it and fell by it? 
When in their error and their fate we have a 
lasting and useful lesson. Should we not ra- 
ther cultivate and strengthen it though our ex- 
travagant hopes and v\ishcs should carry us to 
dizzy heights "beyo nd the flight oj the kiagle" 
Should we refuse to cultivate a proper pride 
because some men have confounded it with va- 
nity? For pride you will know has been rated 
as meaning the same thing with vanity, where- 
as they are no more ; like than the 'Coriolanus' 
and 'the perfumed popinjay that pestered Hot- 
spur.' Y\ hile the one is an intellectual passion 
worth} 7 of a man, the other is a peacock attri- 
bute sometimes worked into the form of human- 
ity. Tride's empire is the soul, vanity dwells 
in the curl of the hair, the formation of the leg, 
or the fit of a boot. This feeling, my fellow 
members, should not he discarded because it is 
often misplaced and slandered, any more than 
honor should be held in abhorrence because it 
is sometimes /« "{ifo d. 

With these remarks, founded on no particu- 
lar subject, yet touching at knowledge as the 
opening door to virtue, I have detained you al- 
ready sufficiently long. In pursuit of this know- 
ledge, the study of nature was presented, and 
after it the necessity of educating and strength- 
ening our innate passions as well and as much 
as the faculties of the mind. 

Might we not before the close of these ob- 
servations, again allude to those, who, eighteen 
years ago, laid the foundation stone of this so- 
ciety. Of these some have already risen to 



12 



high eminence among their fellow men, and 
some have passed beyond the reach of earthly 
honor. Here, in claiming the former as near 
kindred, we acknowledge exultation and pride, 
and in caliing to remembrance each one of the 
latter, we inhale the fragrance of a good man's 
memory. To execute the fulness of our duty 
as members of this society we need but follow 
and emulate their virtues. If we do this, all 
party feelings of every kind, all jealousies and 
all bickerings would be forever excluded from 
the family circle; and the ambition to acquire 
knowledge, both for our own good and the 
good of others, would be "the bright $ articular 
star" of every member. 

Let us then remember who we are and what 
we are, and the duty we owe to ourselves and 
to those who have gone before us; and the pla- 
ces and responsibilities we have to fill as mem- 
bers of "the Tilghman Society." And let us re- 
member the duty we owe to this Institution, our 
"Alma Mater;" her reputation and honor are 
identified with her sons. And let us remember 
him also, who in this institution has been to all 
of,us more than a father — the brightness of his 
intellectual eye is light enough for any dark- 
ness — long may it continue to beam and smile 
on the destinies of this University. And long 
may his portrait ornament this Hall, an evi- 
dence of the lasting respect and affection of 
those who were brought up under him. 



